In recent years note pads in which the sheets are provided with a repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive along one edge of the sheets have become quite popular. Typical of such note pads are those sold under the POST-IT trademark by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, St. Paul, Minn. In some such note pads the individual sheets are affixed to each other in an accordion style, that is, each sheet is adhered to the next adjacent sheet with the adhesive being positioned on alternately opposite edges of successive sheets so that the pad can be utilized with a dispenser. Such dispensers thus provide an organized manner in which to store the note pads on one's desk and yet enable the user to dispense one sheet at a time as desired.
Typical of these note pad dispensers is that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,392. In that patent, which is primarily directed to a disposable dispenser, a coil spring located centrally underneath the pad biases the sheets toward the top dispensing opening so that the dispensing force exceeds the peeling force for consistent dispensing of the sheets. In a disposable dispenser made out of card stock paper, the biasing forces had to be at the center of the stack, rather than at the adhesive edges where it would be preferred, because if the forces were at the edges, the dispenser would tend to tear along its edges.
With the spring force generally at the center, however, the note paper tends to curl and as a solution to that problem a dispenser according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,666 was developed whereby flaps of a polymeric material were attached to the card stock and extended across the opening in the top of the dispenser. These flaps created a reverse bend force to the note paper thereby tending to straighten the disadvantageous curl.
However, disposable dispensers such as just described, are not the economic solution to dispensing sheets from such note pads because the cost of the spring, flaps and the like significantly add to the cost of the note paper making it impractical for one to purchase the note paper in such a dispenser.
In response to this problem, a refillable dispenser for conventional sized note pads was developed as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,781. This dispenser included an economically manufactured plastic base portion into which the note pad was placed. The coil spring was eliminated by providing a heavy insert member made, for example, from cast iron, which nested within the base and through its weight exerted enough force on the note pad paper to exceed the force of drawing a sheet through the top opening of the dispenser and peeling the sheet from the next adjacent sheet in the pad. While solving at least some of the problems attendant to the disposable dispensers, this refillable dispenser cannot be economically manufactured in view of the cost of the required heavy insert member and, in addition, such a heavy member makes the costs of shipping large quantities of dispensers uneconomical.
As such, a need still exists for a light weight, economically manufactured, refillable note pad paper dispenser which will consistently and uniformly dispense such paper without curling or otherwise deforming the same. The device of the present invention satisfies that need.